Annette Kelm Jeans Buttons, 2023

Jeans Buttons is from a small series of works depicting the same section of a blue Jeans Jacket. Each work features a different constellation of statement buttons attached to the front of the garment. From single buttons to, as in this work, a cacophony of political causes from distinct time periods. Jeans Buttons brings to mind the importance of activist gestures in everyday life. The work emphasizes the political struggles in lived experience, both as a reference to the fluctuating popularity and often only episodic progress in advancing political causes but also as a hopeful gesture of continued belief in the possibility of change.